Sea Glass: From Trash to Treasure

Last week I met a beautiful new friend named Brenda. I met her through her husband who I went diving with one day. Brenda doesn’t dive so we’ve spent some time out at the beach. Brenda is a genuine beautiful soul who has a heart for serving others. She began collecting sea glass and turning it into beautiful jewelry. After selling the jewelry she donates money to a local restaurant here in Cozumel who goes into the Cozumel jungle and feeds those struggling during the economic Covid crisis here on the island.  

I’ve spent several days these last couple of weeks hanging out at the beach with Brenda talking and helping her collect sea glass. Sea glass is simply a piece of glass that someone discarded in the ocean, probably once a soda or beer bottle thrown out as trash. As it tumbles about in the ocean, it gets tossed and turned by the waves, it gets smashed and broken against the rock, as it tumbles in the sand it’s surface sometimes becomes scratched and cloudy. However, in the end after all of this refining it becomes smooth and beautiful. 

While picking up sea glass I thought how amazing it is that something so beautiful is created out of someone else’s garbage. I began to think about how God does just that with us. He picks us up right where we are. Sometimes we’ve been discarded by others, sometimes our lives resemble garbage, sometimes we feel broken, and sometimes just empty vessels. He uses our life to refine us, to smooth our rough edges, and to make us into something beautiful. 

I’ve often struggled with feeling a little broken and lately my edges have been rough and sometimes sharp. I was reminded by the sea glass that if I will just let go, God can turn my brokenness into something beautiful.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalms 34:18

The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. Job 42:12

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